The Complete Forza Horizon 5 Barn Finds Guide - Locations, Mechanics & 50 Million CR Ferrari

Barn Finds in Forza Horizon 5 are more than just hidden cars - they're a core progression system tied to your in-game actions and story completion. This guide breaks down exactly how the rumor system works, where to find all 14 vehicles, and how to restore them efficiently, so you can complete your collection and unlock the game's most valuable prize.

Understanding Barn Find Mechanics

How Barn Find Rumors Work

You can't just sit around waiting for Barn Finds to appear - they're tied to what you're actually doing in the game. Each of the 14 cars has its own invisible progress bar, and it fills as you spend active time in free-roam, races, PR stunts, or Arcade sessions. The key is variety: mixing up your activities fills that bar faster than grinding the same race repeatedly.

Once you've done enough, Alejandra or Alex will chime in with a radio announcement, and the purple Barn Find icon shows up on your map for good. If you want to speed things up, there's a trick: hop into the Online tab and flip between Horizon Solo and online mode. This re-seeds traffic and event density, which helps trigger rumors faster.

Progression Requirements & Tips

Before any Barn Finds appear, you need to purchase the La Cabaña property for 150,000 CR to unlock a specific rumor, while most are unlocked by progressing through the Horizon Adventure storyline. The whole thing runs on Accolade Points (which replaced Horizon Life from FH4), which are earned from any activity and used to unlock Horizon Adventure chapters that reveal rumors.

Here's the deal: Barn Finds are unlocked by reaching cumulative Accolade Point thresholds (e.g., 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 120, 150, 200 series points) through Horizon Adventure chapters, and you can't access the final one until you've completed the entire main story campaign, including all Expeditions, story chapters, buying the Tulum house, and finishing the Vocho storyline. So if you're hoping to grab that Ferrari 250 GTO early, you're out of luck.

Requirement	What It Means
La Cabaña property (Purchase)	Purchase for 150,000 CR to unlock a specific Barn Find rumor; others unlock via Horizon Adventure progression
Accolade Points	Earn from any activity to unlock Horizon Adventure chapters
Festival site expansions	Each expansion opens new Barn Find opportunities
Complete campaign	Final Barn Find appears after completing all Expeditions, story chapters, buying the Tulum house, and finishing the Vocho storyline

Restoration Times & Process

After you tag a Barn Find, the restoration timer starts - and luckily, it keeps ticking even when you're not playing. You can quit the game completely, and it'll continue counting down whether you're offline or online.

Most Barn Finds are ready in a reasonable window, typically 30 minutes to 8 hours of real-time. But the Ferrari 250 GTO is a whole different beast. This one can take up to a week of active playtime, which means you're looking at several days of actual gameplay before it's in your garage.

Here's the breakdown:

Car Type	Restoration Time
Standard Barn Finds	30 minutes – 8 hours (real-time)
Ferrari 250 GTO	Up to 1 week of active playtime

The GTO's timer runs on active hours, not just your system clock. Players have reported it taking anywhere from three days to over a week of solid playtime, so unfortunately, this isn't something you'll wake up to tomorrow.

Northern Mexico Barn Finds (Northwest & Northeast)

The northern part of the map holds some of the most iconic barn finds in the game, and they split pretty evenly between the northwest and northeast corners. While most of these are accessible during the main campaign, a couple require some extra legwork. Here's where to find each one.

1973 BMW Turbo 2002

This one's hiding in plain sight northwest of Guanajuato. You'll find the 1973 BMW Turbo 2002 tucked at the base of a hill, just off the main mountainside road that winds past Hotel Castillo Santa Cecilia. Keep your eyes peeled as you cruise by - it's not deep in the wilderness, but you could miss it if you're blasting down the highway.

1968 Ford Mustang GT 2+2 Fastback

Heading further north, the 1968 Ford Mustang GT 2+2 Fastback is sitting pretty just east of Guanajuato. You'll spot it along the main road that climbs toward the hills - look for a dirt turn-off that dips into a shallow canyon surrounded by pine trees. The barn's roof is actually half-visible from the asphalt, especially if you're near the Horizon Rush Outpost, so you don't need to go full off-road to find this one.

1968 Renault 4L Export

Now for the tricky one. The 1968 Renault 4L Export is way out in the far northwest, west of the Gran Telescopio and near the Dunas Blancas beaches. But you can't just drive there - this is a post-campaign barn find, which means you need to get the Horizon Baja antenna first and complete the Baja Expedition race. Once you've done that, the barn icon will pop up, and you can finally grab this quirky little French hatchback.

1962 Ferrari 250 GTO

Finally, the crown jewel. The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO is hiding in the northeast corner near Los Jardines, and it's a pain to reach. You'll need to follow a narrow dirt trail that winds northeast from a roundabout, and it's literally at the end of the path. Fair warning - this one takes the longest to restore, so you'll be waiting a while before you can take this multi-million credit beauty for a proper spin.

Central & Volcanic Region Barn Finds

Mexico's volcanic heartland packs some seriously iconic barn finds, and they're all tied to the region's dramatic geography. Here's where to track them down.

1967 Ford Racing Escort MK1

La Gran Caldera is where you'll find the 1967 Ford Racing Escort MK1, and it's exactly as dramatic as it sounds. You'll want to head up the volcano's south side, and about halfway up, you'll spot a dirt trail branching off with an XP board marking the entrance. Follow that short path and you're there, but the trick is catching the second-to-last switchback before the summit - if you've reached the top, you've gone too far.

1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS

The 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS only appears after you've finished the main campaign, so don't go hunting for it too early. Once you're in the post-game, head northwest of Colinas Aridas toward the volcano's eastern side where you'll find a bright red house tucked near some trees - it's honestly hard to miss. The barn sits right behind it, just off the main road that climbs up La Gran Caldera.

1956 Ford F-100

If you're after the 1956 Ford F-100, you'll need to swing by Tierra Próspera. It's planted right in the middle of a massive field, northeast of a highway intersection that's south of El Estadio Horizon, and the barn itself is a concrete-grey building surrounded by crops and fencing. Approaching from the Horizon Baja Outpost makes it easy to spot.

1953 Chevrolet Corvette

The 1953 Chevrolet Corvette is hiding along the river west of Los Jardines, just south of where the highway crosses over. You can actually see the barn from the motorway overpass if you look carefully, so that's your best approach. Come at it from the highway first and you'll save yourself some wandering.

Southern Mexico Barn Finds

Southern Mexico packs a solid handful of barn finds, and most of them are tucked just far enough off the main roads to make you work for it. Here's where to grab each one without driving in circles for an hour.

1999 Dodge Viper GTS ACR

You'll find this one in the southeast Gran Pantano region, buried in the forest just north of the Ek Balam landmark. The trees get dense here, so you'll want to watch your minimap for the barn icon as you cut through the jungle - don't expect the building itself to be visible from any main road.

1968 Dodge Dart Hemi Super Stock

Head to the southern Cordillera region and cruise the highway between Teotihuacan and Granjas de Tapalpa. The barn sits just off this main road, which means it's one of the easier grabs in this part of the map. You can practically see it from the pavement if you're coming from the right angle.

1970 GMC Jimmy

This one's hiding along the river rapids at Cascadas De Agua Azul in the south. More specifically, it's parked along the northern stream of the river system, so you'll need to follow the water upstream and keep your eyes peeled for a dilapidated roof blending into the woods.

1991 Jaguar Sport XJR-15

If you're scouting the far southwest La Selva region, swing north of the Aerodromo en la Selva airfield. The barn is basically right next to the runway, which makes it weirdly convenient - you can spot it during takeoff if you're flying out of there, but on the ground you just need to follow the northern fence line.

Toyota #1 T100 Baja Truck

The crop circles in the southwest aren't just for show. The Toyota Baja Truck barn is sitting next to the southern crop circle on its outer edge, so you can use the formation as a landmark. Once you see the circles on your map, just drive to the southernmost one and you're there.

1959 Ferrari F40 Competizione

Down near the Rivera Maya beaches in the southeast, this barn is tucked in a forest just west of the main beachfront road. You'll need to leave the coastal highway and push inland a bit, but it's close enough that you can hear the ocean while you're poking around the trees.

Optimal Progression Path

Don't waste time hunting for barns you can't access yet. First things first: buy La Cabaña for 150,000 CR, which immediately triggers the Toyota T100 Baja Truck rumor. After that, you'll want to prioritize completing the entire main story campaign, including all Expeditions, story chapters, buying the Tulum house, and finishing the Vocho storyline, because that is required to make the Ferrari 250 GTO rumor appear - and trust me, you want that timer ticking ASAP.

Nine barns become available naturally through the Horizon Adventure story chapters, so you'll get those as you progress through Apex, Wilds, Baja, and Street Scene. Two more require specific accolade levels: Level 30 Road Racing and Level 25 PR Stunts, so keep an eye on those progress bars. Then there are the two season-locked barns, which is where things get tricky - they only appear in wet or dry season states. You can't just wait for the season to change in real time, so you'll need to hop into a private Horizon Life session and switch seasons manually.

One quality-of-life tip: buy any player-house as soon as you can afford it, because that makes fast-travel completely free. When you're bouncing between purple rumor circles across the entire map, you'll thank yourself.

Using Drone Mode for Location Scouting

Forget driving around in circles hoping to spot a weathered roof. Drone Mode is your best friend for this, and you can find it through the Creative Hub tab in the pause menu - just look for the drone icon in the lower-right corner. Once you're airborne, you've got complete 360° flight control with unlimited altitude, which means you can zip straight over mountains and trees instead of fighting terrain.

The barns themselves are small wooden structures with a faint sparkling effect on the roof, and that shimmer is way easier to spot from above. This method is faster and safer, especially for the barns tucked into dense forests or perched on cliff edges where a wrong turn sends you tumbling.

If you're on PC, you've got a couple extra tricks: the mouse wheel gives you precise zoom control, and you can key-bind Drone Mode to a hotkey to save yourself from digging through menus every time.

Achievement Requirements & Final Steps

The 'Better Than New' achievement won't pop just because you found all the barns - you have to wait for every single vehicle to finish restoration and then claim them. For most cars, you're looking at 15–25 minutes of real time, but the Ferrari 250 GTO is the big exception. That one can take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours of active play, which is absolutely brutal.

Unfortunately, there's a nasty bug that can reset the Ferrari's restoration progress if you're not careful. To protect yourself, always open the Barn Finds tab and let it load completely before you start free-roaming - that locks in your current progress flag. Also, fully quit the game instead of using quick-resume, since that can cause save issues.

If the rollback still happens despite your best efforts, there's a workaround: launch the game offline, finish the restoration while disconnected, then reconnect to Xbox Live to force a one-way cloud save. It's a pain, but it's better than losing two days of progress.

Most Valuable Barn Finds

If you're wondering which barn find will make you filthy rich, the answer is dead simple: the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. This thing sells for a whopping 50 million CR in the Autoshow after restoration, which is double the price of any other standard car in the game. You can flip it immediately and bank the full 50 million, so it's basically a cheat code for your credit balance.

Now, the other high-value finds aren't even in the same galaxy, but they're still worth chasing. The 1991 Jaguar XJR-15 is actually barn-find exclusive - it doesn't appear in the Autoshow at all, which makes it genuinely rare. While there's no fixed price, auction house flips typically pull in 1.2 to 1.8 million CR, so you're looking at serious money.

On the lower end, the 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS costs 15,000 CR to restore, which is pocket change by comparison. Still, it's a guaranteed payout and a solid car, so don't sleep on it.

Performance & Tuning Potential

Here's where things get interesting - not all barn finds are museum pieces. Some can be transformed into absolute monsters on the track. If you're aiming for S1 class (801-900 PI), you've got nine barn finds that can get there: the BMW 2002 Turbo, Dodge Dart Hemi Super-Stock, Ferrari Dino 246 GT, Ford Mustang Boss 302, Ford Racing Escort RS1600, Jaguar XJ220, Jaguar XJR-15, Lamborghini Espada 400 GT, Mercury Cougar Eliminator, and Toyota T100 Baja Truck.

Meanwhile, the Jaguar XJR-15 is much easier to work with, starting at 830 PI and reaching S1 900 with just mild upgrades, which makes it perfect for vintage-themed races where you still want to win.

If you're building for S1, here's the baseline upgrade path that works across most of these cars: grab the largest race engine, convert to AWD, slap on semi-slick tires, and dial in a basic tune. For the tune itself, aim for Final Drive 3.8–4.2 on AWD builds and set tire pressures to 26.0 psi front / 25.5 psi rear.

Mastering Barn Finds requires a strategic mix of story progression, smart exploration, and patience, especially for the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO. By following the optimal path and using tools like Drone Mode, you can efficiently secure every classic car and transform select finds into top-tier racers. Now, get out there and start hunting.